User Reviews

Reviewer: Blesh, 25-34 Female on Treatment for 2 to less than 5 years (Patient)

Effectiveness

Current Rating: 5

Ease of Use

Current Rating: 4

Satisfaction

Current Rating: 5

Comment: I am incredibly sensitive to artificial hormones. I tried several others, all of which caused me to experience severe depression, before switching to a new doctor who realized that it was not the estrogen that was causing my problems but the progestin. She had me try Kariva since it is low-progestin.
It made a world of difference. Sure, it's not as convenient as Nuvaring, but I was human ag
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Comment:I am incredibly sensitive to artificial hormones. I tried several others, all of which caused me to experience severe depression, before switching to a new doctor who realized that it was not the estrogen that was causing my problems but the progestin. She had me try Kariva since it is low-progestin.
It made a world of difference. Sure, it's not as convenient as Nuvaring, but I was human again! About a year after starting on Kariva, my pharmacy switched to Viorele on me, assuring me it was the exact same thing. I know chemically that's supposed to be true... but my body could tell it wasn't Kariva. I sunk into an awful depression again until I called around and found a pharmacy that still carried actual, honest-to-goodness Kariva.
I know Kariva will cause depression or mood swings in others, but all I can tell you is that if you try different types of birth control, you'll find a winner. I was about to swear off hormonal contraceptives completely, but I assure you, there's a combination of hormones out there for you. This is mine.Hide Full Comment

Reviewer: 25-34 Female on Treatment for 2 to less than 5 years (Patient)

Effectiveness

Current Rating: 1

Ease of Use

Current Rating: 3

Satisfaction

Current Rating: 1

Comment: Beware this drug! I experienced the most horrendous mood swings and EXTREME anxiety while on this drug. The side effects took a while to develop but once they did it was truly unbearable. I had no idea why my personality was changing so drastically. It was truly terrifying. I wasn't making the connection between this drug and my highly elevated emotions. I told my Dr. on a whim about my terrib
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Comment:Beware this drug! I experienced the most horrendous mood swings and EXTREME anxiety while on this drug. The side effects took a while to develop but once they did it was truly unbearable. I had no idea why my personality was changing so drastically. It was truly terrifying. I wasn't making the connection between this drug and my highly elevated emotions. I told my Dr. on a whim about my terrible anxiety/mood swings and he took me off of kariva. Within a week I was feeling back to my normal self. It has now been 4 months off of Kariva and I have not had one mood swing or case of anxiety. I would never recommend this drug to anyone. As far as I'm concerned, it should be taken off the market permanently. Hide Full Comment

Reviewer: 19-24 Female on Treatment for 2 to less than 5 years (Patient)

Effectiveness

Current Rating: 5

Ease of Use

Current Rating: 5

Satisfaction

Current Rating: 3

Comment: I have been on Kariva for about four years now, and it has been great. One time I was switched to Viorelle which was probably the worst thing that I ever was switched to for three months, so I went back to Kariva. With the Kariva, I've had no weight gain, it cleared up my acne, my cramps are so much less, and my periods are much lighter than they were when I wasn't on the pill. They used t
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Comment:I have been on Kariva for about four years now, and it has been great. One time I was switched to Viorelle which was probably the worst thing that I ever was switched to for three months, so I went back to Kariva. With the Kariva, I've had no weight gain, it cleared up my acne, my cramps are so much less, and my periods are much lighter than they were when I wasn't on the pill. They used to be 7-8 days of primarily heavy bleeding, whereas now they're five days, with only one day of semi-moderate bleeding. The rest are very light. There are no more huge clots, no heavy bleeding, it's great. The only huge negative about this that makes me give this three stars, is that it is caused my sex drive to become hardly existent. Sex can often be painful as well, which doesn't help my sex drive when trying to get into the mood. It's like my body has learned to associate pain with sex. I was considering switching, but I had such a horrible time when my pill was switched once before, I'm terrified to try something else. Last time I switched, I gained 15-20 pounds within about six to eight weeks, I was depressed, angry, irritable, had mood swings from hell, it was TERRIBLE. But when I switched back to Kariva, all of that went away, and I slowly lost about 90% of the weight. If sex weren't painful, this would definitely get five stars.Hide Full Comment

Reviewer: teengirl, 13-18 on Treatment for 1 to less than 2 years (Patient)

Effectiveness

Current Rating: 5

Ease of Use

Current Rating: 5

Satisfaction

Current Rating: 4

Comment: Works great for me! I've been on it for over a year, with no bad side effects. I also am pretty bad at taking it at the exact same time every day (sometimes it varies as much as 5 hours) and I've had no problems!

Comment:Works great for me! I've been on it for over a year, with no bad side effects. I also am pretty bad at taking it at the exact same time every day (sometimes it varies as much as 5 hours) and I've had no problems! Hide Full Comment

Comment: I started taking Kariva about two months ago with no issues. Just recently (a week and a half ago), I actually started experiencing severe bloating, I've gained weight and severe mood swings. I weighed 93 lbs before taking this with never any issues of gaining weight, I have a fast metabolism but after taking this I experienced intense hunger. I used to eat half a meal and be full, now I finis
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Comment:I started taking Kariva about two months ago with no issues. Just recently (a week and a half ago), I actually started experiencing severe bloating, I've gained weight and severe mood swings. I weighed 93 lbs before taking this with never any issues of gaining weight, I have a fast metabolism but after taking this I experienced intense hunger. I used to eat half a meal and be full, now I finish a meal and I'm still hungry. I immediately stopped taking the pill as soon as I kept experiencing hot flashes and vertigo. I've never had this bad of an experience with a birth control and I've been on more than 10 different kinds. Might work for some, but I will definitely never try again.Hide Full Comment

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